In order to establish and operate a cold store for products of animal origin in the Republic of Cyprus, one needs to obtain a license by the Veterinary Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment.

Eligibility Criteria

The Veterinary Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, grant a license to operate a cold store to natural persons or legal entities, provided that:

the cold store fulfills predetermined specifications based on procedures of storage and transportation, as well as procedures of distribution of food of animal origin in the market; and

the relative sanitary requirements are satisfied according to the specific Laws and Regulations.

Application Procedure

The application for establishing a cold store can be submitted either through the PSC Cyprus or the competent authority can be contacted directly:

copy of the master plan of the cold store (place arrangement and placement of equipment);

copy of HACCP manual;

copy of receipt of payment of relevant fee.

With the submission of the relevant application and the required documents an initial inspection is carried out by the District Veterinary Office in order to examine that there are no constructional or other weaknesses. At a later stage a joint inspection is performed by Officers from the Public Health Veterinary Services and the District Veterinary Office.

Initially, a conditional approval is granted and after 3 months a re-inspection is carried out at the cold store to also verify the implementation of HACCP system requirements. Conditional approval shall not exceed a total of 6 months. After these stages the final approval is granted but annual inspections are still carried out according to a pre-determined program.

The applicant is informed regarding the decision within 3 months, for obtaining the conditional approval and 3 up to 6 months later the final approval. Upon submitting the application, the applicant needs to pay the fee of €450 to the Veterinary Services for examining the application.

The above mentioned license is valid infinitely and does not need to be renewed.

Obligations and Supervision

Cold stores must follow general and specific sanitary requirements based on the relative regulations. Additionally, certain files should be kept from the implementation of self-monitoring systems (HACCP system) and also regarding the traceability of products imported, stored and distributed.

In case of dispute between the applicant and the Veterinary Services, the applicant has the right of:

objection in the event of confiscating food of animal origin or equipment of licensed cold store;

submitting representations in case of administrative fine;

appeal if the application is rejected.

The natural person or legal entity in case of infringement imposed by the competent authority provided that the decision taken does not satisfy him/her can, with the submission of the relevant fee, object to this decision to the Director of Veterinary Services within 24 hours.

In the case of administrative fine any natural person or legal entity has the right to submit representations to the Director of the Veterinary Services within five day from the notification date. In the case of imposition of the administrative fine any natural person or legal entity can within 30 days form the day of the decision to impose the fine, to address the Minister, requesting review of the decision.

In case of rejection of the application, any natural or legal person has the right to submit a written hierarchical appeal to the Minister within 45 days of notification of the decision of the competent authority.